Top Benefits
About the role
Department: Engineering
Reports to: Vice President, Engineering
Location: Mississauga, ON
Purpose:
The Director of Process Engineering and Automation is a strategic and hands-on leader responsible for developing, implementing, and optimizing process engineering and automation strategies across all manufacturing operations. This role is critical to driving efficiency, productivity, product quality, and cost-effectiveness in a high-performance food manufacturing environment. The director will lead a team of engineers and partner with cross-functional teams including Operations, Quality, R&D, Maintenance, and IT to ensure world-class performance and continuous improvement.
Key Responsibilities:
- Develop and lead the strategic direction for process engineering and automation across all plants.
- Build and lead a high-performing engineering and automation team.
- Provide technical leadership in evaluating and implementing new manufacturing technologies.
- Lead efforts to improve line efficiency, throughput, and yield across manufacturing operations.
- Use Lean, Six Sigma, and other CI methodologies to identify bottlenecks, reduce waste, and improve process reliability.
- Collaborate with QA and R&D to ensure that process changes support food safety and quality standards.
- Identify and lead automation initiatives including robotics, PLC/HMI systems, SCADA, MES, and Industry 4.0 technologies.
- Evaluate and implement automation solutions that reduce labor costs, improve consistency, and enhance safety.
- Ensure seamless integration between automation systems and ERP/manufacturing software.
- Ensure compliance with all regulatory, safety, and environmental requirements related to food production and automation systems.
- Support development of SOPs and training for new processes and technologies.
- Partner with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, IT, and Supply Chain to ensure alignment of engineering initiatives.
- Act as a technical advisor to senior leadership on automation and process strategies.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, or Industrial preferred); Master’s degree a plus.
- 10+ years of experience in process engineering and automation within food manufacturing or CPG industry.
- 5+ years of leadership experience with proven success in managing teams and projects.
- Deep knowledge of food manufacturing processes, food safety standards (GFSI, HACCP), and sanitary design principles.
- Proficiency in automation technologies: PLCs, robotics, SCADA, MES, and industrial networks.
- Up to 25–40% to support multiple manufacturing sites, vendors, and project locations.
Gay Lea Foods is a leading Canadian dairy co-operative renowned for producing high-quality, nutritious dairy products that Canadian families love and trust. From farm to table, our 1,200 farmer members in Ontario and Manitoba, and more than 1,200 employees across four provinces, work together to nourish communities through award-winning brands including Gay Lea, Nordica, Salerno, Bothwell Cheese, and more. As part of its deeply rooted, balanced commitment to people, profit, and planet, Gay Lea Foods proudly invests one percent of pre-tax earnings back into Canadian communities through a national food security partnership with Second Harvest, and the community-building efforts of the Gay Lea Foundation. To learn more, visit gayleafoods.com.
Gay Lea Foods is an equal-opportunity employer and values diversity in our workplace.
Reasonable accommodation is available upon request throughout our recruitment and selection process.
Thank you for your interest in Gay Lea Foods.
Wishing you all the best with your career search!
About Gay Lea Foods
With our roots on the farm, Gay Lea Foods has grown to become a leader in the Canadian dairy industry and the largest dairy co-operative in Ontario, with members on 1,300 dairy farms in Ontario and Manitoba, and more than 4,200 producer and investor stakeholders. Our dedication to innovation and the development of high quality products has allowed us to respond to consumers’ evolving tastes and grow the market for Canadian cow and, more recently, goat milk. We are a Canadian success story – and that story is far from over. Moving forward, Gay Lea Foods is poised to seize and create even more opportunities for sustainable, long-term growth in the Canadian dairy industry as we expand beyond our provincial borders, grow our foods and ingredients business, and continue to invest in innovative and industry-leading products.
As much as we evolve, however, we remain a dairy co-operative, owned by dairy farmers. From our farms and production facilities, to our distribution networks and employee ideologies, we embrace and act with co-operative-inspired values, understanding there is no shortcut to quality or success. It takes commitment, passion and collaboration.
Those are the things we’re made of and we’re proud to share our story.
Just like the milk that comes from our farms, so too are Gay Lea Foods’ products and values born on the farm.
Top Benefits
About the role
Department: Engineering
Reports to: Vice President, Engineering
Location: Mississauga, ON
Purpose:
The Director of Process Engineering and Automation is a strategic and hands-on leader responsible for developing, implementing, and optimizing process engineering and automation strategies across all manufacturing operations. This role is critical to driving efficiency, productivity, product quality, and cost-effectiveness in a high-performance food manufacturing environment. The director will lead a team of engineers and partner with cross-functional teams including Operations, Quality, R&D, Maintenance, and IT to ensure world-class performance and continuous improvement.
Key Responsibilities:
- Develop and lead the strategic direction for process engineering and automation across all plants.
- Build and lead a high-performing engineering and automation team.
- Provide technical leadership in evaluating and implementing new manufacturing technologies.
- Lead efforts to improve line efficiency, throughput, and yield across manufacturing operations.
- Use Lean, Six Sigma, and other CI methodologies to identify bottlenecks, reduce waste, and improve process reliability.
- Collaborate with QA and R&D to ensure that process changes support food safety and quality standards.
- Identify and lead automation initiatives including robotics, PLC/HMI systems, SCADA, MES, and Industry 4.0 technologies.
- Evaluate and implement automation solutions that reduce labor costs, improve consistency, and enhance safety.
- Ensure seamless integration between automation systems and ERP/manufacturing software.
- Ensure compliance with all regulatory, safety, and environmental requirements related to food production and automation systems.
- Support development of SOPs and training for new processes and technologies.
- Partner with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, IT, and Supply Chain to ensure alignment of engineering initiatives.
- Act as a technical advisor to senior leadership on automation and process strategies.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, or Industrial preferred); Master’s degree a plus.
- 10+ years of experience in process engineering and automation within food manufacturing or CPG industry.
- 5+ years of leadership experience with proven success in managing teams and projects.
- Deep knowledge of food manufacturing processes, food safety standards (GFSI, HACCP), and sanitary design principles.
- Proficiency in automation technologies: PLCs, robotics, SCADA, MES, and industrial networks.
- Up to 25–40% to support multiple manufacturing sites, vendors, and project locations.
Gay Lea Foods is a leading Canadian dairy co-operative renowned for producing high-quality, nutritious dairy products that Canadian families love and trust. From farm to table, our 1,200 farmer members in Ontario and Manitoba, and more than 1,200 employees across four provinces, work together to nourish communities through award-winning brands including Gay Lea, Nordica, Salerno, Bothwell Cheese, and more. As part of its deeply rooted, balanced commitment to people, profit, and planet, Gay Lea Foods proudly invests one percent of pre-tax earnings back into Canadian communities through a national food security partnership with Second Harvest, and the community-building efforts of the Gay Lea Foundation. To learn more, visit gayleafoods.com.
Gay Lea Foods is an equal-opportunity employer and values diversity in our workplace.
Reasonable accommodation is available upon request throughout our recruitment and selection process.
Thank you for your interest in Gay Lea Foods.
Wishing you all the best with your career search!
About Gay Lea Foods
With our roots on the farm, Gay Lea Foods has grown to become a leader in the Canadian dairy industry and the largest dairy co-operative in Ontario, with members on 1,300 dairy farms in Ontario and Manitoba, and more than 4,200 producer and investor stakeholders. Our dedication to innovation and the development of high quality products has allowed us to respond to consumers’ evolving tastes and grow the market for Canadian cow and, more recently, goat milk. We are a Canadian success story – and that story is far from over. Moving forward, Gay Lea Foods is poised to seize and create even more opportunities for sustainable, long-term growth in the Canadian dairy industry as we expand beyond our provincial borders, grow our foods and ingredients business, and continue to invest in innovative and industry-leading products.
As much as we evolve, however, we remain a dairy co-operative, owned by dairy farmers. From our farms and production facilities, to our distribution networks and employee ideologies, we embrace and act with co-operative-inspired values, understanding there is no shortcut to quality or success. It takes commitment, passion and collaboration.
Those are the things we’re made of and we’re proud to share our story.
Just like the milk that comes from our farms, so too are Gay Lea Foods’ products and values born on the farm.